Tuesday, November 26, 2013

(Hamble, England)- After weeks of gales, it was with some trepidation
that the Garmin Hamble Winter Series fleet nosed out of the river on
Sunday in time for their start. Fears of wintry weather were misplaced,
however, and some hours later the fleet returned with grins on their
faces. ‘Awesome day on the water’ and ‘Champagne sailing conditions’
were some of the phrases heard bandied around the clubhouse after racing
by competitors sporting that most unseasonal of things – sun-kissed
faces.

The north-west 15-18 kts breeze provided some delightful but testing
sailing conditions for the assembled racing yachts, with big shifts
offering up big gains for some competitors with their eyes out of the
boat and big losses for the less fortunate. One race was sailed.

In IRC 0, David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J/111 J-DREAM continued to sail a
consistent series in their class and maintained their strong record
with a 2nd this past weekend to hold on to their bronze podium position
as well as their gold position in the J/111 one-design class overall.

In IRC 2, Paul Heys’s J/88 JUNGLE DRUM won class for the second time in
the series and Louise Makin’s J/105 JOURNEYMAKER took fifth.

Nick Munday’s J/97 INDULJENCE won their fifth race in IRC 3 Class to
take a commanding lead overall. Just behind them is David Greenhalgh’s
J/92 J-RONIMO lying in fourth overall.

In the J/109s it was Ivan Burden’s JACOBI who won, ahead of David
McLeman’s OFFBEAT for the weekend. At this stage in their series, David
McGough’s JUST SO is leading the series, followed by Sir Owain Frank’s
JYNNAN TONNYX in second and Paul Griffiths’s JAGERBOMB in third. Thanks
for the contributions from Ben Meakins. For sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth Pictures For more Hamble Winter Series sailing information